Rima Horton


Rima Elizabeth Horton is an English former Labour Party councillor on the Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council, winning election in 1986. She twice ran as a Labour candidate for Parliament but lost both times. Horton has also worked as a lecturer at Kingston University.
Horton was the longtime partner of actor Alan Rickman. Together since 1965, they were married in a private ceremony in 2012, and remained so until his death in 2016.

Early life

Rima Elizabeth Horton was born into a working-class family in Bayswater, the third of four children of Elice Irene and Wilfred Stewart Horton. Her mother was from Wales while her father was London-born. Horton attended the all-girls St. Vincent de Paul primary school, and later the University of Southampton.

Career

Horton won election as a Labour Party councillor on the Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council in 1986, serving as its Chief Whip and a spokesperson on education during her tenure. She lost her place on the council in May 2006, "part of the national shift". She twice ran as a Labour candidate for Parliament, losing to the Tory candidate each time. Horton also worked as a senior economics lecturer at Kingston University in London. She retired in 2012.
Horton served on the board of directors of The Making Place, a children's charity. She was appointed in 2002 and stepped down in 2005. She also has served on the board of trustees of the Gate Theatre in Notting Hill.

Writing

Horton was a contributor to The Elgar Companion to Radical Political Economy in 1994, penning a piece titled "Inequality". In it, she posed three questions: whether people are "naturally equal in essence"; whether and when the redistribution of wealth is justified; and, if so, how much is "fair"? She cited "much recent work" suggesting that health status and mortality rates in developed countries "actually depends on the distribution of income".

Personal life

Horton met aspiring actor Alan Rickman in 1965, when she was 18 and he was 19, while attending Chelsea College of Arts. The couple were married in a private ceremony in New York City in 2012. Their marriage was announced publicly three years afterwards, in 2015. Horton lived with Rickman from 1977 until his death in January 2016. The couple were together for over 50 years, but had no children.

Footnotes